“A large barge breakaway is a slight aberration from the norm certainly,” says Lt. Colin Fogarty, “but to give you a better understanding, we’ve had multiple barge breakaways on all the major rivers in the last two weeks alone.”

Fogarty says the incredibly rapid rise of rivers this spring has seemed to trigger more problems than usual. He does point out, the river industry has become accustomed to big changes in water levels over the past few years.

Fogarty says he’s not aware of any concerns with the fleeting areas where the barges were anchored prior to the breakaway. He wouldn’t speculate on whether investigators believe the barge company American Commercial Lines did anything wrong or whether other vessels or factors might be to blame.